Chaos is a ladder

A leader recently posted in their "three post summary" (meant to be a pithy summary of oneself or one's job). It read "chaos is a ladder." I didn't recognize the reference, and knowing how well educated this person is I expected it to be a Virgil or Homer quote. It is from "Game of Thrones."

The full quote is thought provoking and I think in many cases true. Here it is:

"Chaos isn't a pit. Chaos is a ladder. Many who try to climb it fail, and never get to try again — the fall breaks them. And some are given a chance to climb, but they refuse. They cling to the realm, or the gods, or love ... illusions. Only the ladder is real, the climb is all there is."

I think it resonates when you think about companies thriving in markets that reward disruption, and I wonder if it is true in other arenas as well.

Aspirations in national security

Even though I'm in my 30s now, and well into a business career, I still have a strong desire to be a leader in national security. It's not clear to me what the path might be for someone with my experience set, to be prepared and selected for a role like director of the National Security Council or Secretary of State.

I have an internal debate about whether I should begin to move my career in a direction that touches directly on national security issues in the next several years. Another option would be to vigorously pursue business leadership, simply to put myself in a place where I can have the influence to gain such a position. Of course in either case I would need to be prepared to be a leader in national security, but my experience set and the strengths I would bring to a position would be different.

In any case, work there is work I can do in the meantime is to study specific national security issues in more depth. I can also begin conversations with people of influence and experience in this realm, firstly to learn, and secondly to build relationships.

Thoughts no one asked for on the royal wedding and Meghan Markle

5/19/2018

Meghan Markle married Prince Harry today, and here are a few thoughts no one asked for:

The ceremony was lovely, and the diversity of the guest list was noticeable. A choir sang "This Little Light of Mine" and a black bishop quoted Dr. Martin Luther King, and the news anchors struggled to highlight this without explicitly talking about race.

I've been reading a lot about Jackie Onassis lately, and admire Meghan Markle in a way simliar to how they looked to Jackie. Today though, we often acknowledge the private struggles of these icons. People simultaneously admire the beauty and poise of Meghan, while thinking about how much she struggles to balance her family, her identity, and her new role. I'm not certain people were that reflective about what was on Jackie's mind. This may result from a change in society, that now respects women and considers their perspective in a different way. It may also be the result of a more specific change, driven by Princess Diana. She forced society to consider the reality behind the curtain. Especially after her divorce, and in the years since her death, society has grappled with the difficulties she faced. Today, the public often imagines these internal struggles while also admiring the outward glamour. It's interesting that our culture of idolizing semi-political, beautiful women remains constant given this added complexity.

Love and dependency

Sometimes when I miss Larry keenly when he's traveling, it reminds me that I'm dependent on him in many ways. This dependency is not the same as love, and but noticing the dependency when he's away reminds me to show more love when he's here. It also remind me that while there is nothing wrong with this dependency, I should probably make more of an effort to cultivate myself as a full and thriving individual self.

Career: Dina Powell

Dina Powell has had a fascinating career in and out of politics and finance, that has left her very well positioned in both industries at a young age. She's 44 years old, and on the management committee at Goldman, and served as Deputy National Security Adviser. She claims never to have planned her career moves but to always have "taken the leap of faith."

What could an equivalent track look like? What relationships would you need to build, and where would you want to work? Is there a logic to moving between media and government that matches Goldman/NSC? Or would there be better logic to moving between cyber security / government?

Miami recommendations

Coffee - All Day. Incredible coffee, food, cocktails. Very instagrammable. Don't miss the cat wall paper in the bathroom. Order multiple food items and multiple coffee concoctions.

Neighborhoods/Areas outside South Beach / Miami Beach - We really enjoyed eating and shopping in Coconut Grove. Ate great burgers (and got great service) at Lokal. We also went to the Rusty Pelican on Key Biscane (sp?) which has a bar with a great view back on Brickell/Miami. Great for sunset cocktails.

My favorite thing to do in Miami is get drinks at the bars in expensive hotels! We got drinks at the Sunset bar at the Faena hotel (next to amazing Hirst sculpture of golden mammoth called "gone but not forgotten"). The restaurant Los Fuegos is there and the chef was on chef's table (the guy who buries everything to burn).

I haven't been recently but on past trips I loved the bar at the Nautilus hotel too (very hip and laid back / not like party-hip).

Apparently the Standard's pool party is the craziest because there are no kids allowed.

Key takeaways from Scott Galloway's "The Four" (Amazon, FB, Apple, Google)

• Decline of brands:
• The importance of brand is declining in an era where fewer and fewer searches start with brands. Consumers are not seeing end of aisle displays, product specs, etc, before making purchase. When purchases are made by voice (i.e., through Alexa, etc) consumers won't know price, product design, etc. 
• Product search is done on Amazon, not Google
• Most "product" searches start on Amazon, not Google (55% of product searches start on Amazon, whereas 28% percent start on Google - remainder is mainly brand websites).
• "Searches for product are lucrative - they get healthy bids, as tehre may be a purchase at the end of it, vs. stalking your high-school crush. Amazon's search franchise may rival Google's in value someday, as the people looking to spend start their search at Amazon." -Pg 60
• Patient capital
• Amazon's success can largely be attributed to the very patient capital they get from issuing stock to investors who they have trained not to expect profits in return. They get cheap capital from investors then plunge it into expensive capital projects or consumer offerings that build a moat around them (e.g., their distribution network, or free two day delivery).
• And by not turning a profit, they don't pay taxes.
• A future without jobs
• Retail is the country's biggest employer
• "Entrepreneurs create jobs, right? No, they don't. Most entrepreneurs, at least in tech, leverage processing power and bandwidth to destroy jobs by offering more for less... The guy [Bezos] who has the greatest insight and influence into the future of the world's largest business (consumer retail) has come to the conclusion that there's no way the economy will be able to create, as it has done in the past, enough jobs to replace those being destroyed. [because he believes we need a universal minimum wage to protect all the workers who will lose their jobs]" - Pg 53
• "...we need business leaders who envision, and enact, a future with more jobs - not billionaires who want the government to fund, with taxes they avoid, social programs for people to sit on their couches and watch Netflix all day." - Pg 62
• "best of times for the remarkable, and the worst of times for the unremarkable." - Pg 61